Legislative staff outline technical corrections to FY2025 appropriations; votes scheduled

Janet Jessup, a budget and policy analyst with Legislative Services, told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee that staff identified three technical corrections to FY2025 appropriations and walked members through the changes before formal votes.

Jessup said the first correction transfers previously reappropriated broadband monies from the Commerce program into the separate broadband program so broadband spending can be tracked in that program. “The monies when in fiscal year 2025 were reappropriated into the commerce program, not the broadband program,” Jessup said.

She described a second correction related to a drafting error in a 2025 transfer to the CAFO (confined animal feeding operation) improvement fund. “In the drafting of the transfer, it’s stated from the DEQ General Fund,” Jessup said. She said the drafting language resulted in the DEQ general fund not receiving a corresponding replenishment and that the proposed correction would “make the agency whole and replace those DEQ general fund monies that were transferred to the CAFO fund.”

A third correction affects two programs in the Department of Health and Welfare: the substance abuse treatment and prevention program and the physical health services program. Jessup said funds that were appropriated to the trustee-and-benefit-payments expenditure category should instead be coded as operating expenditures because the monies are for third-party contractors; the agencies cannot reclassify the amounts themselves because the Health and Welfare bill restricted transfers out of trustee-and-benefit-payments. The corrections would be net zero adjustments moving amounts from trustee-and-benefit payments to operating expenditures.

Chairman Groh and other committee members characterized the items as technical and praised staff for identifying only a small number of errors amid large, complex budget documents. Jessup said the corrections were described in the yellow packet provided to members and that the committee would vote on them the following day. No formal committee votes on these three technical corrections were recorded during the session.

The committee members who asked questions or responded during the discussion included Chairman Groh and several members of legislative staff; Jessup invited follow-up questions and identified colleagues Alex and Brooke as additional staff resources.

Looking ahead, Jessup said the committee would consider the corrections at the next session when members would have the opportunity to vote.